Business

As an entrepreneur, a lot of things interests me but nothing interest me more than the inter workings ofa business, so this page is dedicated to the aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere looking for thatcreative spark to start their adventures in capital ventures (see what I did there?)

So it’s official. Trump is our president. People are worried that he’s going to fail America the way he fails at business. Though he is successful, he has a few hit and miss. Here are the top 16 Donald Trump Business Fails.

Donald Trumpreceived offers from four toy companies that were interested in releasing a Trump-branded game. Trump chose Milton Bradley Company, which he called "the Rolls-Royce of game companies."Parker Brothers declined an offer to produce the game. Jeffrey Breslow pitched the game to Trump in his office at Trump Tower in New York. As Breslow explained the concept, Trump interrupted to say, "I like it — what's next?" After negotiations, Trump: The Game was unveiled during an event on February 7, 1989

Trump: The Game is played with three to four players, who must buy and sell various properties in an attempt to make money. The winner is the player who has the most money at the end of the game, after all properties have been purchased. In the 1989 version, the board consists of eight properties and six different spaces, while the 2004 version consists of seven properties and five spaces. The game features a total of eight different types of cards, including five profit cards. Trump said at the event that his undisclosed percentage of the game's revenue would be donated to charities that benefited cerebral palsy and AIDS research, as well as help for homeless people. Milton Bradley executives, who had worked with Trump for more than a year on the game, were surprised as they had not been aware of Trump's charitable intentions. The game was patterned after Monopoly, and based on Trump's career and his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal. Trump, who received input in developing the game with Milton Bradley game specialists, said, "I didn't want a game based solely on chance. I wanted a game based on talent. And I wanted to teach people if they have business instincts. It's great if they can learn that from a game instead of having to go out and lose your shirt.” Trump also said, "I really like the game. It's much more sophisticated than Monopoly, which I've played all my life."George Ditomassi, the president of Milton Bradley at the time, declined to specify how much money the company paid Trump to name the game after him, although Ditomassi estimated that the game's donated proceeds would total $20 million.

Trump: The Game was launched in May 1989, with the tagline, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's whether you win!" Trump appeared in a television commercial for the game. Trump and Milton Bradley hoped the game would sell two million copies, although the game ultimately sold poorly. By August 1990, Trump acknowledged that the game may have been too complicated. Trump said the game had sold 800,000 units.
​Mother Jones magazine, which wrote that Monopoly was a superior game, gave a negative review of the 2004 version, calling it, "Cramped and short-lived—it's the Trump Shuttle of board games. This is a great game if you don't have very many friends." The magazine wrote that "the game's flaws—its erratic nature, its contradictions, its singular obsession with the rapid accumulation of wealth for the purpose of acquiring luxury real estate and firing people—are also Trump's flaws," while also noting that Trump "basically took Monopoly money, stuck his face on it, and added a bunch of zeroes." Christopher Chabris of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the 1989 version was "surprisingly fun to play, as long as you don't mind seeing the candidate's face on $100 million bills and moving a T-shaped pawn around a black-and-gold board." However, Chabris felt that there were better business-themed board games available such as Power Grid. Business Insider called the 1989 version "bizarre." Ben Guarino of Inverse wrote, "The game is designed to simulate what it's like to be rich. In a very specific, very Trumpian way, it succeeds

Ditomassi said about the game's failure, "The game was just nailed to the shelf." Ditomassi felt that one reason for the game's poor sales was that customers were unaware of its revenue being partially donated to charity: "They felt perhaps this was going to be something that a millionaire would make some money on." The game's television commercial was changed to include a new voice-over which stated: "Mr. Trump's proceeds from Trump: The Game will be donated to charity." However, sales of the game failed to increase. It was also believed that sales suffered because the game was misleadingly marketed as a Monopoly knockoff. Analysts also believed that the public had grown tired of Trump. Orbanes said that games such as Trump: The Game "were too heavily involved with what appeared to be high-level finance. That's too intimidating to most people. In May 1991, Trump won a lawsuit brought against him by Stuart Ross, a Manhattan attorney who said he had been hired to serve as an agent in licensing the game. Ross said he had suggested the idea of a board game to Trump, and that he was promised 25 percent of the game's royalties. Ross had sought $200,000 in the lawsuit. Trump had testified that he never made a contract with Ross, and that the game's royalties – $866,800 – had already been donated to charity after being deposited with the Donald J. Trump Foundation, although he did not provide records to prove his claim. In June 2016, during Trump's presidential campaign, The Huffington Post reported that Trump's claim of donating the board game's revenue to charity could not be substantiated. Trump, The Trump Organization, and Hasbro declined to comment. As of 2016, the game is considered a collector's item.​

I love steak. I know I should eat red meat but turkey doesn’t taste as good a beef (Im actually eating a burger as Im writing this), so when I heard the Trumpster had his own brand of steaks, I had to look it up! Trump Steaks is a brand of steaks owned by Donald Trump that launched in 2007 and were initially sold at The Sharper Image and QVC. Trump was featured on the June 2007 issue of the Sharper Image magazine to promote his then-new brand of steaks, which were billed as the "world's greatest". Prices of the four packages of Trump Steaks varied from $199 to $999. The steaks were USDA Angus certified, and were supplied by Buckhead Beef. Trump Steaks were only sold at The Sharper Image for two months before being discontinued. According to the company's CEO, Jerry W. Levin, the product was largely unsuccessful, Levin also claims that the advertisements featuring Trump's photo attracted customers to buy other products at the store. The Trump Steaks trademark was canceled in December 2014 according to a trademark search through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As of April 2016, the steaks can no longer be purchased in store, however, they can still be purchased at Trump's various properties. Trump did have an eponymous steak line, sold via Sharper Image. The company's website notes, however: "Unfortunately, Trump Steaks are no longer available, but their legacy endures."

A search for "Trump" on QVC's website finds various Melania Trump jewelry products, a line of Trump mattresses and one entry for Trump Steaks. But they're not actual steaks; they're "Certified Angus Beef Steakburgers" and QVC notes, "We're sorry, this item is not available at this time." A reporter present at Trump's press conference notes that the steaks on the table were not actually a Trump brand, but appear, ironically, to have come from a company named "Bush Brothers."

Now, I’ve only been a fashonista for 5 years but I can spot good clothing when I see it. I know how to look great and how to look generic and this next thing on our list is generic with a capital G. The Donald J. Trump Collection is a line of men's dress shirts, suits, ties and accessories, all of which have been made by factories overseas, where labor costs are a fraction of what it would cost in the U.S.

Trump cut a deal with the global apparel giant PVH to manufacture his clothes in 2004. And ever since the Donald J. Trump Collection has been produced by factories in Central America and Asia, then shipped to the U.S. for sale in stores and online. Scott Nova, an executive director of Worker Rights Consortium, an independent labor rights group that investigates the garment industry, says there is one reason clothes are made overseas: cheap labor. "If a company were committed to producing clothing in the U.S., they could find a way," Nova said, but he added, "The competition is to find the lowest wages you can possibly get." Shipping documents obtained by CNN show that in 2014 Trump shirts were shipped to the U.S. from a factory in Honduras, where nationally the average factory worker earns about $1.30 an hour. Even that hourly wage may have been too high for Trump's licensed manufacturer. The Honduran factory's contract ended in 2015.

That same year, shipping forms obtained by CNN show Trump shirts were being manufactured and shipped from Bangladesh, where the average factory worker makes just 33 cents an hour, according to Nova. CNN cannot determine if the people making Trump's clothing were paid a different amount or the conditions they were working under.

Bangladesh "has the lowest wages and the worst and most unsafe working conditions of any major apparel exporting country," Nova said. Trump's clothing line has fallen on hard times since his comments concerning Mexicans and Muslims in the early primaries led to retail giant Macy's dropping the Trump clothing line. And Trump's manufacturer, PVH, has said it is phasing out its licensing agreement with Trump.

But you can still find Donald J.Trump signature brand clothes on the internet, though apparently at drastically reduced prices. Sizes and colors were extremely limited, suggesting the Trump clothing brand is at the end of its line. But the Trump campaign refused to directly answer if Trump's clothing business is shutting down.

Im big on education. I always tell my friends if you can look up porn on the web, you can look up how to learn new skills. Now some people learn better with books, some better with video tutorials. Others need someone to be with then to coach them every step of the way. There’s nothing wrong with that but if you dont do your homework before hand, you can really get schooled! Trump University LLC (formerly the Trump Wealth Institute; later named Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC) was an American for-profit education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until 2010. (A separate organization, Trump Institute, was licensed by Trump University but not owned by the Trump Organization.) Michael Sexton created a business plan for a real-estate training program and presented it to Donald Trump looking to pay Trump a flat fee for the use of his name. Trump instead decided he wanted to be the principal owner.

Donald Trump owned 93% of the company. On May 23, 2005, Trump University formally launched its education program. At the opening presentation, Trump said: "If I had a choice of making lots of money or imparting lots of knowledge, I think I'd be as happy to impart knowledge as to make money". The company's original business plan focused on online education, but quickly expanded to include live, in-person instruction as well. The focus of the instruction was real estate investing, with Trump claiming in advertisements, "I can turn anyone into a successful real estate investor, including you."Typically the instruction began with an introductory seminar in rented space such as a hotel ballroom. At the introductory seminar, students were urged to sign up for additional classes, ranging from $1495 seminars to a $35,000 "Gold Elite" program. Records produced indicate 7611 tickets in total were sold to customers attending courses. Approximately 6000 of these tickets were for a $1,500 3-day course and 1000 tickets were for silver, gold or elite mentored courses ranging in price from $10,000 to $35,000. Trump claimed that students gave 98% favorable reviews to the program. But according to some former students, Trump University employees pressured students to offer favorable reviews, told them they had to fill out the forms in order to obtain graduation certificates, and did not undertake procedures often used to ensure that surveys were filled out objectively.

In an infomercial, Trump said he "handpicked" Trump University's instructors. He testified in a 2012 deposition, however, that he never selected the instructors for the program. According to Michael Sexton, Trump signed off on the school's advertisements. For a time in 2008 it used the name Trump Wealth Institute. In June 2010, "Trump University" changed its name to "The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative." It largely ceased operations in 2010.

The Trump Institute was a separate business. It was licensed by Trump University, but Trump University did not own any part of it. It was owned and operated by Irene and Mike Milin of Boca Raton, Florida. It offered real estate seminars from 2006 to 2009, at which point the licensing agreement expired and was not renewed. Trump himself was not involved in the operation of the Trump Institute, but he recorded a broadcast infomercial promoting it.

After multiple lawsuits, it is now defunct. It was founded by Donald Trump and his associates, Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny, in 2004. The company offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation.The organization was not an accredited university or college. It did not confer college credit, grant degrees, or grade its students.[4] In 2011, the company became the subject of an inquiry by the New York Attorney General's office for illegal business practices that resulted in a lawsuit filed in 2013.

Trump University was also the subject of two class action lawsuits in federal court. The lawsuits centered around allegations that Trump University defrauded its students by using misleading marketing practices and engaging in aggressive sales tactics.

Trump settled all three lawsuits in November 2016, after being elected to the presidency, for a total of $25 million

Now I love smelling good. I remember when I was working at Books A Million I would put on this Coconut Pineapple Lotion from Bath and Bodyworks and this one girl would just smell me up and down. I think thats how I got her number (I would like to think it was because I had game and not just because I smelled good) but since then I was always concious about how I smelled. From Playboy’s New York cologne to Axe Body Spray, I’ve been searching for my scent. Trump has produced several lines of fragrances, including Donald Trump, The Fragrance; Success; and Empire. Trump's first eau de Cologne—Donald Trump, The Fragrance Experience—was produced in partnership with Estée Lauder.

Success was a men's fragrance from Macy's, and was a collaboration between The Trump Organization and Five Star Fragrance Company. This fragrance was launched in March 2012. The scents include blends of fresh juniper and iced red currant, hints of coriander, a mix of frozen ginger, fresh bamboo leaves and geranium, a combination of rich vetiver, tonka bean, birchwood and musk. Im not a fan of musk. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Success smelled like "soap" and was "reminiscent of a fashion magazine that contains too many perfume ads."

The Success line was discontinued in 2015 following Trump's negative comments on the 2016 presidential campaign trail. According to the Environmental Working Group in 2016, the fragrances contained ingredients that were linked to various health conditions. As of November 8, 2016, all of Trump's fragrances are reported to be in the process of being discontinued.
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I love magazines, so much I created my own. Something about a lifestyle presented in colorful images and powerful articles. Who wouldn’t want their own magazine. There was a magazine called The Jewel of Palm Beach published by the Palm Beach Media Group that is described as "the exclusive publication of Donald J. Trump's spectacular Mar-a-Lago Club" and other Trump properties.

Trump does not appear to own the publisher, and the magazine only comes out on an annual basis.There was a Trump magazine, which went out of circulation in 2009. The New York Daily News reported:

"The last iteration of the luxury lifestyle mag reached a circulation of 100,000 and sold for $5.95 before it flopped. Issues are nowhere to be found online and hardcopies are likely a rare collector's item."

Remember Soul Plane? As bad as the film did in theaters, I always appreciated the images of seeing someone start an airlines (I love airplanes). Before I heard Trump talking about Mexicans, Muslims and grabbing women by the kitty, I thought it was cool he had a plane with his name on it.

"Back in 1989, Trump pounced at the chance to buy the troubled Eastern Air Lines shuttle service for $365 million. He put the Trump name on the planes, dressed them up inside — and waited for business to boom. It didn't. But the business took on too much debt and eventually defaulted. It was sold to USAir." I guess he didn’t learn from Howard Hughes mistakes.

Besides playing in gym or playing video games, I’ve never been a racing guy. Never watched Nascar. Didn’t even have hot wheels. Only thing that caught my eye were the brands on the car. Donald saw something in it I didn’t.

The race was originally sponsored by Donald Trump and known as the "Tour de Trump" in 1989 and 1990. The idea for the race was conceived by CBS Sports reporter John Tesh, who had covered the 1987 Tour de France and on his return suggested holding a race in the United States to the basketball commentator and entrepreneur Billy Packer. Packer originally planned to call the race the Tour de Jersey. He approached representatives of casinos in Atlantic City for sponsorship, and Trump offered to be the race's primary sponsor and Packer's business partner in the venture. It was Packer who suggested the Tour de Trump name. After two editions, Trump withdrew his sponsorship of the race due to his business's financial problems. According to Packer, reflecting on the event in 2016, he and Trump "parted as good business friends", although he also explained that Trump's personality and celebrity, as well as the scandals surrounding Trump's marriage and business affairs, distracted from the event and annoyed European riders in the race.

Trump Vodka was an American brand of vodka produced by The Trump Organization at the behest of its owner Donald Trump. The brand was launched in the United States in 2005. In 2005, Drinks Americas signed with Donald Trump to promote a new brand of vodka which became known as Trump Vodka. The brand was launched with the slogan "Success Distilled", with Trump predicting it would outsell Grey Goose vodka. He also said that when mixed with tonic, which he referred to as a "Trump & Tonic" (T&T), it would become the most drunk cocktail in the United States. In 2007, Drinks Americas signed a deal to export 50,000 cases of Trump Vodka annually to Russia. It ceased production under the Trump name in 2011 when it failed to meet the required threshold for distribution. Another reason was because Trump himself is a non-drinker and never drank Trump Vodka, as he blamed alcohol for the death of his brother Fred Trump, Jr. Drinks Americas also had problems producing it because the glass used in the bottles and the gold leaf labels were expensive and the company could not afford to produce them in large numbersHowever, it is still sold in Israel, especially around the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Trump declared of the winery, "I own it 100 percent, no mortgage, no debt."The winery's websitesays something different: "Trump Winery is a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates." Trump, who is a teetotaler, also used to sell Trump Vodka, although that venture has also been discontinued. A review described the vodka's taste this way: "Vodka from The Donald. Nosings reveal dry, earthy scents of grain, paraffin, kid leather, jasmine, flowers, moss and soot. Palate entry displays far better than average grain focus and viscosity; at midpalate, the taste profile turns off-dry, intensely breakfast cereal-like and biscuity. Finishes oily/creamy and snack cracker-like."

On Trump's website, the water is touted as "one of the purest natural spring waters bottled in the world."
​"I mean, we sell water, and we have water, and it's a very successful," Trump said, "you know, it's a private little water company, and I supply the water for all my places, and it's good." So does Trump own the natural springs or bottle the water himself? According to reporters at the event who looked the label, probably not.

In June 2015, 5 Rabbit Brewery announced that it would cease doing business with Donald Trump because of his statements about Mexican immigrants. The brewery had brewed a batch of beer especially for a bar in Trump Tower Chicago. They ceased shipping the beer to the bar, and stated that the beer would be renamed to Chinga Tu Pelo (English: Fuck Your Hair), in an apparent reference to Trump's hair. A few days after that, Gino's East purchased that batch of beer from the brewery

Not a picture of the elite tower

Originally, the Elite Tower site was purchased for $44 million by American real estate tycoon Donald Trump in association with Crescent Heights Investments. He planned to build the Trump Plaza Tower, but Trump shelved the plans in 2007, when he sold the site on to Azorim for NIS 306.5 million (around $80 million)

The Trump Taj Mahal is a closed casino and hotel on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States, owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts, a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises. The casino was inaugurated by its then-owner Donald Trump in 1990, and was built at a total cost of nearly one billion dollars. Restaurants at the Taj include Dynasty, Il Mulino New York, Moon at Dynasty, Robert's Steakhouse, and Hard Rock Cafe. It was also the home of Scores, the country's first in-casino strip club. The Taj Mahal came to the brink of closure in 2014 as its parent company went through bankruptcy, but ultimately remained open under the new ownership of Icahn Enterprises. On August 3, 2016, it was announced that the Trump Taj Mahal would close after Labor Day. It closed at 5:59 AM on October 10, 2016 for repairs.

Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico was a failed luxury condominium-hotel resort to be located at Punta Bandera in the Playas de Tijuana borough of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, approximately 16 kilometers (9.9 mi) from the San Ysidro border crossing. It was initially announced in 2006 as a joint venture between the Trump Organization and Los Angeles-based real estate development company Irongate. Investors were led to believe that Trump CEO Donald J. Trump was supervising the project, however he was just licensing his name for the development (and subsequently also sued the company).

TD Trump Deutschland AG (German for "TD Trump Germany AG") was a venture by Donald Trump planning to trade and build skyscrapers in Germany. In a cooperation with Marseille-Kliniken Hamburg The Trump Organisation agreed in August 2000 to found the TD Trump Deutschland AG with a common capital stock amount of 4 million Euro, shared likewise into 2 million by each one. Plans by the venture included Millennium Tower (Frankfurt), Alexanderplatz (Berlin) or Pragsattel (Stuttgart) for the construction of a 55-story building of 220 m height (would have been the highest building in south Germany) at an estimated 250 million Euro investment amount, by the name Trump Tower. Plans by architect Peter Paul Schweger for the project were presented in October 2001. In January 2003 the city of Stuttgart finally refused the permission to build the tower due to seeing problems unsolved sourcing the needed amount of money. The company was dissolved in April 2005

Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico was own by developer Empresas Diaz, the club uses the Trump name under a licensing agreement. Donald Trump does not own the club. combines a PGA Tour Golf Course, incomparable luxury residences, a magnificent beach club, an invigorating spa, complete land and water recreation, and superb cuisine, all in one place, embraced by the most exotic landscape under the Caribbean Sun. It closed in july 2015.

"We merely licensed our name for a fee and have nothing to do with the ownership, development or entity," Eric Trump, executive vice president of The Trump Organization and son of Donald Trump, said in a statement.

You can keep saying he’s not your president but thats like standing in Disney world and screaming you’re going to ignore every Disney character and the whole Disney experience. We live in America. He’s the American President. If you are an American, he’s your president. You may not like him, he may not like you but it is what it is. Stop depending on the government and focus on building your community. Build a business. Practice group economics. Protect your own community. Become Self sufficient. Study history and look at the future and prepare for the worst.